Dustin Volz

Apple Inc has been asked by Chinese authorities within the last two years to hand over its source code but refused, the company’s top lawyer told lawmakers on Tuesday in response to U.S. law enforcement criticism of its stance on technology security.
The congressional testimony highlighted an issue at the heart of a heated disagreement between Apple and the FBI over unlocking encrypted data from an iPhone linked to last December’s San Bernardino, California shootings – how much private technology companies should cooperate with governments.
Law enforcement officials have attempted to portray Apple as possibly complicit in handing over information to China’s government for business reasons while refusing to cooperate with U.S. requests for access to private data in criminal cases.
“I want to be very clear on this,” Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell told Tuesday’s hearing under oath. “We have not provided source code to the Chinese government.”